Contributions of Positive Youth Development to Intervention Science

Abstract

Background: Advances in knowledge of how to promote positive youth development (PYD) have significant potential to enrich intervention science. As part of a broader movement in the direction of a more fully integrated intervention science, PYD intervention research can provide practitioners in youth behavioral and mental health with an updated set of intervention tools beyond problem-focused strategies for reducing or preventing dysfunction. Objective: The objective of this commentary is to highlight potential contributions of PYD research to the development of more complete models of youth intervention, as well as to identify directions for future PYD intervention research. Method: This commentary discusses and expands on findings from the present articles that contribute to an empirical foundation for connecting PYD promotion with the science and practice of treatment and prevention. Results: The findings point to practical advantages that result from understanding the empirical links among PYD, treatment, and prevention on the way to achieving a more fully integrated intervention science, as well as methodological challenges involved in pursuing this agenda. Conclusions: In this context, the next generation of intervention science will be driven by integrating PYD’s contextual, cultural, relational, global, and participatory values into the science of building and testing youth interventions.